Shaun de Waal
AT the James Phillips Memorial Concert at Mega Music in Johannesburg=20 this weekend, you will be able to hear a wide variety of bands paying=20 tribute to the late songwriter and bandleader; you will also be able to=20 contribute to the Sunny Skies Trust =D1 raising money to cover medical bill=
=D1 by buying T-shirts or CDs. Spend your money on the CDs first: these represent the inestimable legacy=
of Phillips=D5 music, his unique talent for a twisted lyric propelled by=20 muscular rock=D5n=D5roll =D1 the opposite of the =D2factory, factory sound= =D3 he=20 decried in one early song. The 1993 album by Phillips and the (Cherry- Faced) Lurchers, Sunny Skies, will be available, as will the CD rerelease o=
the seminal Wie is Bernoldus Niemand? You can=D5t really do without either of those, or without the Lurchers=D5 L= ive at=20 Jamesons =D1 a monstrously powerful band in full flight =D1 or The=20 Otherwhite Album, but perhaps a good place to start, if you=D5re new to=20 Phillips=D5 oeuvre, or just want an overview of his work, is the freshly mi=
Made in South Africa. A compilation of tracks recorded over the years, solo or with different=20 bands, it features material from Phillips=D5 first-ever taped and never=20 officially released collection of songs, James the Boptist, made during a=
brief Seventies gospel-folk phase, through the years with the punkish=20 Corporal Punishment and Illegal Gathering, up to the full flowering of his=
talent with the Lurchers. To my mind, the songs should have been chronologically ordered, but the=20 mix nonetheless works as a whole. Here all Phillips=D5 moods and modes are=
on display: from the sardonic humour of the Corporals=D5 1979 swart gevaar=
satire, Darkie, to the savage Emergency-era anger of the Lurchers=D5 The=20 Branch and Detainees; from the deeply felt lament of Afrika is Dying (one=
of the hitherto unreleased solo performances) and the heart-rending passion=
of Shot Down =D1 a song which still chills the blood. But there is much joy on Made in South Africa, too: Phillips may have=20 been sour on occasion, but he was never dour. His (or Bernoldus=D5) cover o=
Radio Rat Jonathan Handley=D5s Welcome to My Car is a supreme piece of=20 tongue-in-cheek South-Africana, and the pure energy of such rollicking=20 ditties as Rock=D5n=D5Rolls Royce and Toasted Takeaways can only help one,=
as D-Luxe has it, take one=D5s grin in hand. Made in South Africa was pressed for free by Compact Disc Technologies,=20 the only pressing plant in South Africa, so that the maximum amount of=20 money can go into the medical fund. That in itself is good cause enough to=
buy this and the other CDs, but what you=D5ll get in return is really beyon=